‘MQM leaders ordered arson attack at Ali Enterprises’

Main suspect records statement before judicial magistrate, makes startling revelations

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leaders ordered setting the garment factory in Baldia Town on fire, killing 259 workers over non-payment of extortion by its owners, it was revealed before the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday.

These revelations came in statement recorded by the prime suspect in the fire, Abdul Rehman alias Bhola, before the judicial magistrate and a statement recorded by the owners of Ali Enterprises before a joint investigation team.

These statements were presented before a two-judge bench, headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, while hearing petitions filed by four co-accused against the issuance of their arrest warrants by the anti-terrorism court concerned in the Baldia factory fire trial.

Two-hundred-and-fifty-nine workers perished in the deadly fire that broke out in the industrial unit on September 11, 2012 in which Dr Abdul Sattar Khan, Muhammad Ali Hassan Kadri, Umer Hassan Kadri and Iqbal Adeeb Khanum are named as co-accused.



Their lawyers, Anwar Mansoor Khan and Hassan Sabir, read out the statements of Bhola and the factory owners.

In his confessional statement, Bhola confessed that he was involved in murders and other acts of violence on the orders of the MQM leadership.

The suspect disclosed that he had killed various activists of the Pakistan Peoples Party and Sunni Tehreek. According to the statement, millions of rupees collected through Zakat, fitra, sacrificial animal hides and extortion were stashed at MQM headquarters Nine Zero.

Bhola disclosed that the then incharge of the Karachi Tanzeemi Committee (KTC), Hammad Siddiqui, had made him the incharge of MQM’s Baldia unit to perform an important task. The suspect added that later he was given the task to extort Rs250 million from the owners of Ali Enterprises.

Bhola revealed that he was informed by Zubair alias Chariya on September 11, 2012 that arrangements had been made to set the factory on fire, adding that Hammad was also informed before the factory was set ablaze.



According to the statement, Chariya and his accomplices reached the factory in a high-roof and after around 25 minutes informed Bhola that the ‘work was done’. Hammad then asked them to make arrangements to shift some MQM workers, MPAs and MNAs to the burning factory.

In his confessional statement, Bhola also revealed that MQM leader Abdul Rauf Siddiqui had a case registered regarding the fire against the factory’s owners to prevent the MQM from being accused.

According to the statement, after the factory owners obtained bail Hammad and Rauf summoned them and received Rs40 million to Rs50 million in extortion.

The lawyers said the factory owners had named Hammad and other MQM leaders in their statement, accusing that the factor was set on fire on the orders of the MQM leaders over non-payment of extortion by the factory owners.

They argued that the key suspects - Bhola and Chariya - who were taken into custody had not named the petitioners – Muhammad Ali Hassan Kadri and Umer Hussain Kadri in their statements. They informed the court that the factory owners had made payments to their client from their bank accounts via cheque.



The lawyers argued that an FIR of the Baldia factory fire was already registered but the trial court later ordered that another one be lodged in light of the JIT report findings.

“Had it been extortion money it would have been paid in cash, not through cheque,” they argued, adding that the payment made to the petitioners by the factory owners was purely for business, not extortion.

Advocate Khan argued that then MQM leader Anis Kaimkhani, who is now president of the Pak Sarzameen Party, was also named in the JIT and a case should also be registered against him.

It was argued that the Baldia factory fire incident took place in 2012 while the factory owners made the payment to the petitioners for setting up a factory in Hyderabad in 2014.

Advocate Khan said such information was also provided to the Federal Investigation Agency. He said the ATC had issued arrest warrants for his clients in contradiction to the evidence.



Advocate Hassan Sabir argued that the petitioner, Dr Abdul Sattar, who is a business partner of Ali Hassan Kadri, was paid Rss130 million for business purposes. He added that Adeeb Iqbal Khanum was a 70-year-old lady who was named in the case on the basis of JIT report.

The special public prosecutor, Sajid Mehboob Sheikh, argued that the JIT had recommended registering a fresh case of the Baldia factory fire incident and, on the basis of such recommendations, the charge-sheet was also filed to the trial court.

He disclosed that earlier the case was not independently investigated due to political pressure, adding the JIT, comprising representatives of the intelligence agencies and police, had examined the evidence afresh and made their recommendations.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the bench dismissed the petitions, restoring their arrest warrants issued by the ATC.